Ball-pointed pen



J y 1951 H. D. MORRIS 2,560,811

BALL-POINTED PEN Filed April 27. 1948 I INVENTOR HYDuMORRIS magma ATTORNEYS Patented July 17, 1951 Nl TED S TATES OFF ICE. 1 2,560,811: r Y

' BALL-PolNTED PiEN-f Hy D. Morris, Baldwin, Ni- Ygassignor to .Uni-

versal Fountain Pen &-Pencil 100;, Inc., New- York, N. Y,, acorzporation OfiNBW=YOIk Application April 27, 1948, Serial No. 23,479

This invention relates to ball-pointed fountain pens. Pens of this typeare equipped with a small ball retatably mounted in a socket at the tip of theipen towhich viscous ink is fed through acondult of small' borefrom an ink reservoir in the barrel of tlie penr The writer causes the ball to rotate-initssocket and rollover the surface-written upon, thus transferring ink from the'socket to the paper. It often happens, particularly after long periods of disuse, that a bubble of air beedrr'ieslodgedsinthe feed conduit, or the ink-in the socketbecomes dry, or the normal flow of ink iSLQtherWise arrested so that the pen will not write; or, in anyevent, will not write freely and instantly, i

In each of my copending applications, Serial No. 757,847, filed June 28, 1947, and Serial No. 783,523, filed-Novemberi, 1947, I=have disclosed atlfliclaimed ,asmall air compressor mounted on such apen and communicatingwith the ink: res: ervoir. Airis compressed by means-of a thumbactuated plunger slidably mounted wthin a cylinder from which the compressed air enters the ink reservoirs In my copending application, Serial No.791=,562,=filed December 13,1947, now Patent Number 2,500,998, dated March 21, 1950; I have disclosed-and claimed a modified form of air compressor; In each instance a vent is provided for relievingthe pressure Withinthe reservoir as soon as the -fiowof ink has been reestablished.-

I'havediseoveredthat better results areobtained bymaintaining the slightly increased pressure within -thereservoir.- With a properly made compressor the small increment of pressure obtained maybe held for a long time, during which the pen writes freely and instantly, and when the pressure eventually dropsto atmospheric, so that the pen does not write well, or if for any reason the ink does not flow,;the compressor is again-operated-to rebuild the pressure. It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a ball-pointed pen with means for slightly compressing the air above the ink in the ink reservoir, for maintaining that pressure, and for replenishing it from time to time.

In the accompanying drawing, in which I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a ball-pointed pen of my invention showing the compressor as it appears at the end of the compression stroke, and

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing the compressor at the end of the pressure releasing stroke.

The pen illustrated in this drawing comprises a 2 Claims. (].,120e-42l4) metal tube constituting an reservoir 1 terminating in a conical tip 2 in the end of whiehis' a writing =ball- 3*rotatably mounted within a socket. The inkpasses from thereservoirto the ball through a-fine feed conduit, not shown These parts, which constitute the elements of the pen proper, are mounted within and upon a plastic barrel or housing ltterminating at its forward end in a-con-ical sleeve 5; The parts just described are common elements of a ball pointed pen and, of-themselves, form no part of my invention.

Mounted. upon the upper end of the inkresere voir tube is a plug 6 having a fine central bore -l. Lowerdown in -the'tube is a smaller plug- 8 likewise provided with a fine central bore 9 and press-fittediwithin the tube, the chamber. Iii between .theplugs -6 and "8 constituting an ink-"trap.

Slidably mounted upon the plug 6Jis a plunger cylinder ll provided in its sidewallwithlan air vent: l2 andhaving inwardly bent tongues l3 (OnlynQIlB shown) for-preventing accidental removal; Within thecylinder l l and overlying the upper end-iof the. plug 6 is a rubber or neoprene washer It of slightly larger iameter than the -plug and makingair-tight, frictional engagement withthe walls of the cylinder and with the end of theplug. This washeris provided with a centralbore 15.1 Overlying the washer Mis a brass washer-Idalso provided with ateentral bore 18 and, lying withinathe; cylinder H between the washer If;v and the endof thecylinder is a compression coil spring. I 9.,

Adjustably screwed within the upper end of the barrel 4' is plug 26, having a head 2| and a threaded boss '22, an annular shoulder 23' being efined 'by the underface of the head and the boss.- The inner end of the boss engages the outerend'of thecylinder ll; thus when the plug is screwed inward .the cylinder H is pressed downward and the coil spring l9'compressed; the 11miting position being reached when the shoulder 23 abuts the outer rim of the barrel, as shown in Figure 1. When the plug is unscrewed, the cylinder ll moves outward under the compulsion of the spring until the tongues I3 engage the projecting shoulder on the underface of the plug 6, as shown in Figure 2. It will be noted that when the cylinder is in its innermost position, as shown in Figure 1, the air vent I2 is out of communication with the interior of the cylinder II and the reservoir I0, but that when the cylinder is in its outermost position, as shown in Figure 2, the air vent I 2 is in communication with the interior of the cylinder and the reservoir, and through air vent I2 out of communication with the reser-' voir (either because the air vent is below the washer I4 or opposite it) and the pen is in normal writing condition with the ink under a slightly increased pressure. This slight increment in pressure causes the ink to flow freely 4 cylinder, the parts could be reversed, as they are in the first two of my above-recited copending applications.

I claim:

1. In a ball-pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir and a feed conduit connecting them, the combination of a cylinder slidably mounted upon and in communication with the reservoir, means for sliding the cylinder inward along the reservoir to compress the air within the reservoir and for holding it in air-compressing position, means for retracting it, a washer on the reservoir preto the ball and enables the pen to write instantly when the ball is applied to paper. Gradually, of course, as the ink is used up the pressure within the barrel diminishes (there may also be some leakage) and the time finally comes when further flow of ink past the ball would result in reducing the pressure within the reservoir below atmospheric. Thereafter writing would be difiicult, if not impossible. When this point is reached, or if at any time flow of the ink is arrested for any cause, the user can quickly cure the disability by unscrewing the plug 20 to the position shown in Figure 2 and screwing it in again. When the parts reach the position shown in Figure 2, the vent I2 permits air under atmospheric pressure to fill the cylinder and the reservoir so that when the plug is returned to writing position this new air is compressed and writing pressure restored.

As air can pass to the ink through the bore 8 of the plug 8, so ink might pass through the same bore in the reverse direction. If this should happen, this overflow would find itself within the chamber IU of tube l between the two plugs 8 and 6. In order to leak, even into the barrel, this ink would have to traverse the bore 1 of the plug 6, the cylinder H, and the vent I2. This is practically impossible, so that the chamber may be considered as an adequate ink seal. In any event the ink reservoir is normally sealed by the cylinder II. It is only when the compressor is being operated that the vent I2 is momentarily in communication with the ink reservoir, and it is only through this vent l2 that ink could possibly escape, and then only into the barrel. For all practical purposes, therefore, the pen is leakproof.

The relative sizes of the various parts of the pen which have been found satisfactory, are shown in the drawing, although, of course, these may be varied as well as structural details. I have found that the bores 1, 9 may satisfactorily be .018 inch in diameter.

Although I have shown and described an air compressor having a fixed piston and a movable venting substantial leakage of air between the reservoir and the cylinder wall, an air vent in the cylinder above the washer when the cylinder is in retracted position and below or opposite the washer during a substantial part of the compression stroke.

- 2. In a ball-pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir, and a feed conduit connecting them, the whole mounted within a barrel, the combination of a cylinder mounted upon and in communication with the reservoir, a screw plug threadedly mounted on the upper end of the barrel and movable within it, a spring pressing the upper end of the cylinder against the plug, whereby screwing the plug inward slides the cylinder over the reservoir and compresses the air within it, a, washer on the reservoir preventing substantial leakage of air between the reservoir and the cylinder, an air vent in the cylinder wall above the washer when the plug is unscrewed to permit the spring to retract the cyl-.- inder, and below or opposite the washer during a substantial part of the compression stroke.

HY D. MORRIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: V

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 562,842 Minich June 30, 1896 884,412 Oberdoerster Apr. 14, 1908 1,319,556 Baker Oct. 21. 1919 1,447,632 Schmidt Mar. 6, 1923 1,951,057 Leitch ;Mar. '13, 1934 2,010,950 Hardesty Aug. 13,-1935 2,107,424 Platt Feb. 8, 1938 2,333,451 Sussman et a1. Nov. 2, 1943 2,432,061 Chesler Dec. 2, 1947 2,435,123 Biro Jan. 27, 1948 2,440,829 OConnor May 4, 1948 2,441,280 Moore May 11, 1948 2,444,004 Chesler June 22, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date Switzerland Oct. 16, 1942 

